


What Could Have Been

by SnorkleShit



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), DC TV Universe, DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014), The Legends Of Superflarrow
Genre: AU, Angst, Barry didn't go back and fuck up the timeline, Bitty Bang, Canon Divergent, Character Death, F/M, I'm not sorry, M/M, Multi, Sad, Some of the stuff in the legends finale i'm just going to ignore for this, Somewhere post-season two, coldflash - Freeform, coldflash big bang, goldenvibe - Freeform, kinda vague
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-11
Updated: 2016-09-11
Packaged: 2018-08-14 07:34:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8003947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SnorkleShit/pseuds/SnorkleShit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cisco and Lisa start dating, and Team Flash is surprised when she informes them that Snart and Rory went on the mission with their friends and Hunter. </p><p>Barry starts to wonder about Cold, about his feelings for the criminal, and about everything they could be, if he comes back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What Could Have Been

**Author's Note:**

> aagh i'm sorry this is late! 
> 
> This is kinda weird, placement wise? I just kinda ignored some stuff idk. Hope you like it!

Sunlight bled into Jitters, making the edges of the woman sitting across from him glow gold.

“Are you going to stare all day, or are you going to say something?” Lisa asked coyly over the edge of her steaming latte. The classic hum of city life swirled around them, and she seemed to be the only thing in sharp focus. Cisco laughed nervously, heart beating just a little too fast.

“Sorry, uh, I just didn't want to ramble. I have a tendency to do that when I'm confused and terrified,” he said, offering her an anxious smile. She tilted her head.

“Terrified? Come on, Cisco, I'm not going to bite. Unless you’re into that,” she added.

Cisco flushed, and nervously sipped his own drink before shaking his head. He looked down at his lap as he brushed his hair behind his ear.

“No, it's not that, I just - uh, didn't expect you to ask me out,” he explained. “Didn’t really think you’d ever be serious about the whole dating thing. Especially since I’m not, like, a ripped felon on a motorcycle.” He winced. “Wait, no, that sounds awful, I’m sorry, I just meant -”

His voice sped up in remorse, but her golden laugh cut him off. The amused, knowing smile she gave him was warmer than usual. There was...a change, in her eyes. Just the slightest shift of something he couldn’t put a finger on.

“Well, for one thing, you’ve got more fire in you than I think you give yourself credit for,” she said. “For another, after some...time to myself” - she shrugged - “I started to think that maybe a change was in order. Not a big one, mind you. Girl’s gotta keep her charm.”

Cisco smiled, warmth spreading through him. “I know I shouldn’t trust you...but I think I will on this one.”

“Well, good,” she replied, “because I was really hoping for a second date. Which is, interestingly enough, a first for me.”

\--------

  
Cisco and Lisa start dating that morning, and to everyone’s surprise, they’re still going strong two months later. So strong, in fact, that Cisco often jumped up to get her out of some crime-related jam, and she started to come and hang around Star Labs. This annoyed everyone at first, but soon even Caitlin couldn’t help but start to enjoy her presence.

Cisco’s brother sure liked her. He once questioned Lisa’s sanity for settling for a guy like Cisco, in a joking manner, of course. But it had hurt Cisco nonetheless. Any other one of Cisco’s few girlfriends would have nervously laughed it off. Lisa, however, stabbed a knife in the table between them and questioned his own. Cisco wasn’t ashamed to admit he had reacted with a little more pride than alarm.

So, people liked her, even if they were still slightly terrified of her. Hell, he was still terrified of her. But only about half as much as he used to be. Okay, maybe two thirds.

Meanwhile, things were back to as close to normal as they could get. With Zoom defeated, they were all left to slowly recover from their losses. Barry was down, with his dad and all, but this time, they weren’t letting him fall. They had all gathered around each other like an endlessly folding safety net. And they were healing. Slowly, but...nonetheless.

“So, where’s your brother? And his meathead friend?” Barry asked Lisa one day, the second part an afterthought, after they’d defeated some medium-sized bad guy with her help. He tried to say it casually, but Lisa and Iris exchanged a look.

“Still on that weirdo mission I told them not to go on. Looks like all the hero vibes rubbed off on me too.” She shrugged. Everyone turned to her, frowning in slight confusion. Her face fell.

“You...didn’t know? I thought you knew,” she said, turning to Cisco, but her boyfriend just shook his head. He’d assumed they were off robbing banks.

“What mission?” Joe asked, crossing his arms and adopting a classic cop stance. Lisa rolled her eyes, waving her hand around dismissively.

“Some guy in a time machine got a bunch of your friends from Starling City and them, and took them on some goose chase. Through time. And the assholes actually went. Invited me, but I was like, not fucking with that kind of shit. I may be pretty but i’m not dumb. That’s my brother’s job,” she explained.

Everyone stood up straighter in shock, exchanging looks.

“We knew that that Rip Hunter character took our friends with him, but we didn’t know that he took Cold and that maniac with him!” Caitlin exclaimed.

“Yeah, well, apparently they’re big heroes in the future. I have a feeling that’s your fault, Scarlet,” she pointed out, using her brother’s pet name for Barry in a teasing manner.

Barry flushed, screwing up his face. “What? What - I - Like he’s actually affected by anything I do!”

 “Are you kidding me?” she asked. Barry opened his mouth to demand what she meant, but was cut off by Iris clapping him on the shoulder and loudly inviting him to lunch.

\-----------

After that, sometimes Barry found himself lying awake at night, thinking about this new development. He’d seen the good in Snart, and he’d told him as much...but to know that the man had really taken such a big leap towards good? It brought up some...emotions Barry had shoved away more than a few times. And with those came a renewed spark of hope. Hope for what, he wasn’t sure.

But perhaps...a leopard really could rub out its spots. Or maybe it was never really as much of a leopard as it wanted everyone to think in the first place.

“So...did she say when Sn- her brother would be back?” Barry asked Cisco one night, when they were at the bar together after work.

Cisco raised his eyebrows at him, grinning smugly. “Why do you ask? Missing your bae?” he teased.

Barry scoffed, shaking his head defensively. “What? No. Why do you guys think that?”

Cisco laughed, turning away and taking a drink, still smiling like he knew something Barry didn’t. Barry shook his head again, waving his hand.

“Besides, Snart is a criminal. I couldn’t…” he started to say, to cover his tracks. Cisco huffed, turning to give him a look he knew was coming.

“Really, man? This is me you’re talking to,” Cisco sat back a little in disbelief. Barry let his shoulders slump, staring down at the scratched up bar. Cisco sighed and clapped him on the shoulder, causing Barry to look up at him.

“Look, man, it’s not like i’m straight. Don’t worry about that kinda stuff, nobody-” he tried to suggest, but Barry just laughed.

“Oh, jeez, dude no! That’s not - that’s not a concern of mine. It’s just...other things. That I don’t really know how to put into words. Look, can we just - can we just drop it?” Barry asked, searching for understanding.

He found it. Cisco smiled at him and pulled out a vial of Caitlin’s specialty brew.

\--------------------

A few nights later, Barry woke up in a sweat, from a particularly erotic dream, involving none other than the eldest Snart.

He swung his legs over the edge of the bed, and rubbed his hands over his blushing face. It seemed the long suppressed feelings for the other man were starting to demand substance. He begged his mind to let it go, and got up to try and focus on something else. Anything else.

A while later, he was alone in Eobard’s not-so-secret room, lost in thought.

“He likes you, you know,” a voice said from behind him, causing him to turn. Lisa was leaning against the wall near the entrance, chewing bubblegum and studying her nails. They were painted a glittering gold. He wondered if it was real gold flakes. He wouldn’t put it past her.

She seemed to him like a predator, able to strike at any moment, but choosing not to. Of late, anyways. He could sense the goodness inside of her, struggling to assert itself amongst her still very real love of chaos and the scars both on her body and mind. Sometimes, especially lately...Barry didn’t blame Snart at all for killing his own father.

“What?” He tried to seem like his heart hadn’t skipped a beat. He knew exactly what she meant, but he wished he didn’t.

“My emotionally constipated brother. You think he played all those games with you out of malice? No, he just likes to have fun. And he thinks you’re fun. Practically obsessed with you. Really drove Rory up a wall. He was pulling your pigtails,” she said slyly, grinning at him with a gleam in her dark eyes.

Barry cleared his throat, trying to force his face not to turn red. For a moment, he considered just running away. He stuck his hands in his pockets and laughed awkwardly, looking anywhere but at her.

“That’s a pretty childish way to like someone,” he finally replied, voice a little tight.

“Well, like I said. Emotional constipation runs in the family. You can thank my old man for that. Hopefully, wherever he is in time, which I still don’t understand or care to understand - well, I hope he’s had as much of an awakening as I have.” Lisa’s voice was surprisingly sincere. Barry looked up, only to watch her turn and walk out the door. The wall stitched itself closed behind her, and he wondered momentarily if Cisco told her about this room, or if she found it by herself.

He spent more and more time after that, thinking about the increasingly pressing concept of him and Snart. Snart and him. Captain Cold and the Flash.

Maybe opposites really do attract.

\----------------------

It was a cold day, when the Waverider appears in the parking lot of Star Labs.

“NO. FUCKING. WAY!” Cisco was screeching as he tore out of the door, racing across the asphalt to meet the friends they see exiting the vehicle. The rest of Team Flash followed at a normal pace, exchanging excited and amused looks.

Cisco and Dr. Stein shook hands before Jax scooped them both into a big group hug. Behind him came the Hawks, hand in hand, looking haggard. Like they’d won the war, but lost the battle.

“YOU ACTUALLY HAVE A SPACE SHIP? THAT’S A TIME MACHINE? IS IT LIKE THE TARDIS?” Cisco shouted in excitement, rushing to inspect the looming ship more closely. Barry had to agree, it was certainly a sight.

Ray came off the ship, and jumped off the last edge of the ramp to run over and greet Cisco, and they carried on geeking out together. Ray’s hands started to wave rapidly as he talked to Cisco, and the shorter man bit his knuckles to contain his overwhelming excitement. Lisa rolled her eyes, and smiled as she watched her boyfriend’s face light up.

Off the ship came Sara and Mick, looking very different from the last time Barry saw them. Barry’s heart twisted, looking at Sara, in an unfamiliar white suit, knowing she had left before Laurel died. Had anyone told her? Behind them came a man that none of them recognized.

“Did you guys do it? Did you defeat Vandal Savage?” Barry asked. Kendra and Carter exchanged a look.

“That and more, Mr. Allen,” said the strange man in a long coat as he came to stand before them.

“You must be Hunter,” Joe predicted, looking him up and down suspiciously.

“Don’t worry, you can trust him,” Sara promised, and Rip looked to her as if he was surprised by her assurance.

“Thank god that immortal lunatic is out of our hair. He better stay that way. I’m beyond sick of these bad guys coming back for seconds. No offense,” Iris directed the last part towards Lisa, who elbowed her, but only smiled.

“Indeed, we can all be grateful for that. He is no longer a threat, and neither are the Time Masters,” Rip announced.

Barry furrowed his brow. “The Time Masters where a threat? I thought you were a Time Master?”

Rip gave a pursed smile, and gestured towards the Waverider.

“Would you good people like to come inside? It’s a bit roughed up, but it’s a better place for the conversation we are about to have.”

\-------------

It took a good while for them to actually get to the helm of the Waverider, since everyone couldn’t help but oogle the damaged yet beautiful machine.

“Looks like you guys had a wild ride,” Lisa observed, as they all filtered into the central room. Her eyes roamed around, searching. “Where’s my brother? Did he bail on you guys?”

Silence falls over the crew of the Waverider, and they all exchange glances. All besides Rory. With his arms crossed, his face stony and unemotional, he told the truth for what it was.

“He’s dead.”

You could have heard a pin drop. Lisa’s smile did not fall, but lost it’s luster. The air was cold.

“What?” Lisa asked, unmoving, as if she’d heard him wrong. The crew of the Waverider were not as emotionless as the man forged in fire.

“Maybe you should sit-” Sara started to say, stepping towards Lisa. She knew what it was all too well to lose a precious sibling, and what it was to lose Snart. Lisa stepped back, away from all of them.

“No! I won’t sit! What do you mean, he’s dead?” She demanded, voice raising a few octaves. Cisco was pale, and Barry felt like the world was far away. He stared at the woman as her face fell into shock and disbelief, heart beating slower than usual. The information seemed to be taking it’s sweet time becoming reality.

“He was a hero.” Rip offered, in a serious tone. “He gave himself up to save us. To save you all. To save the whole universe.”

The others nodded, hearts heavy but full of respect and pride in their crewmate.

“He was our friend. We loved him.” Jax offered seriously.

“Well he was my brother!” Lisa cried, her eyes starting to fill with tears. She balled her hands into fists.

“This- this is a time machine, right?” She demanded, turning to wave angrily around them. “Well dial it up or whatever and - and save him!”

“Don’t you think we would if we could? We can’t. I’m sorry.” Rip said, shaking his head.

The fallout goes as one would expect. Lisa shakes her head, over and over, and turns to leave the room. Cisco and Caitlin bump shoulders going after her. Sara takes charge, explaining in a wavering voice how Snart died, and they all bow their heads in remorse and contemplation.

Barry feels like it’s all happening far away. Like he’s falling into a big dark abyss, and static is drowning out everything around him. Sad eyes, sharp words, such a guarded heart... the memories play through his mind faster and faster. All gone. There’s something more than the usual heartbreak, hurting deep down inside of him. But he isn’t sure what to call it, because...he isn’t sure if he loved Leonard Snart.

Now, he supposes, it doesn’t matter.


End file.
